None will doubt the effectiveness of an umbrella for keeping a person dry while walking in the rain. Their simple but effective design has served mankind well over the years with minimal changes to its basic design. However, all umbrellas suffer from one (1) common flaw in that they must be positioned an arms lengths away from the user's body before deploying. This is to allow the ribs of the umbrella to fold up from the bottom to their protective top position. Such a restriction often means the user must get slightly wet when getting out of a motor vehicle, or stepping outside from a building with no protective awning or overhang. A similar problem exists when returning to a protective space as well. Accordingly, there exists a need for a means by which umbrellas can be deployed and retracted in a radically different manner to address the above mentioned problems. The development of the retractable umbrella fulfills this need.
The apparatus is an umbrella system that deploys from the top down versus the bottom up arrangement of conventional umbrellas. A central tube functions as an umbrella support, a handle, and a storage container. A generally circular canopy, supported by a plurality of ribs is driven in and out of a top of the tube by a central worm gear shaft. Upon reaching maximum deployment, each rib bends downward, as restricted by the canopy, to form a typical umbrella shape. Other components such as pivot bases, a rotating ring, a snap ring, a cap assembly, and a wiper disk aid in this process. Since the canopy extends from the top of the shaft, it can be held close to one's body, thus offering increased protection when contrasted with prior art umbrella systems. The mechanism is powered by a small electric motor, which receives electrical power from batteries located in a shaft portion of the handle. Operation of the invention is controlled by a power switch located near the handle. Various logos, symbols, and graphics could be printed on the canopy as well for marketing purposes.
Prior art in this field consists of automated umbrella systems and umbrella systems having off-set and angled canopies. Umbrella systems with off-set and angled canopies provide limited relief to the problems associated with non-overhead protection during deployment of the canopy. The angled or off-set nature of the canopy affords a user the ability to better position the umbrella in the rain while a user is under the cover of an ancillary structure, but because the canopy of these devices still open by the ribs folding up and out, this provides a limited remedy. Prior art automated umbrella systems employ motors and transmission gearing to extend and retract the canopy, but the canopy is not extended from within, and retracted into, the central shaft of the umbrella. Furthermore, these systems still suffer from the restriction associated with the ribs folding up and out during deployment of the canopy. It is desirous to have an umbrella system that does not employ a rib and canopy configuration that opens radially from a bottom of the central umbrella shaft, but to rather open radially from a top of the central umbrella shaft. It is further desirous to restrict the radial motioning of the ribs to an area that is above a user holding the umbrella so as to obviate the need to hold the umbrella away from a user's body upon deployment of the canopy.
It is an object of this invention to provide an umbrella system that deploys the canopy of the umbrella from a top portion of the central shaft of the umbrella so that the umbrella can be held in close proximity to a user's body during deployment.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a means to deploy and retract the canopy in an automated manner.
It is a further object of this invention to extend and retract the canopy of the umbrella from within the central shaft so that, after immediate use, residual water from the canopy is contained within the shaft, thus obviating the need to exercise caution as to where to place the umbrella after use.
An added benefit of the invention is to provide a squeegee element that assists with removing water from the canopy as it is retracted into the central shaft.